4. Plot Mystery as Seen in Edgar Allan Poe’s Short Stories The Fall of The House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Black Cat.

difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself made our escape from the conflagration. The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallow up, and I resigned myself thence forward to despair” Poe, 1990: 201. After the fire, he visits the ruins and finds a strangeness in the wall with one exception not fallen in. He sees that there is silhouette against a white wall, the figure of a cat Poe, 1990: 202. The readers can feel a throbbing atmosphere of mystery through the imagination of a burning house. The actions in The Black Cat take more time than actions in The Tale-Tell Heart do. The events that are presented in The Black Cat are highly selected. It comprises the setting of place indoor and outdoor. While, in The Tell-Tale Heart the setting of place is only in the room.

2. 4. Plot

Plot refers to the systematic chain of events, which make up the short story. Its links in this chain consist of cause and effect, helps to build suspense and solve the problem. It must have a true beginning, middle, and end; it must be plausible and logical, and yet it should occasionally surprise the reader; it must arouse and satisfy suspense. In The Fall of The House of Usher, the narrator is connected to the Usher family since they were once close boyhood companions. He is requested by Roderick to come in Roderick’s house that convinces him to make the journey. He finds some strange things in the house and the owner. The ancient mansion and the family, both have on the verge of collapse. Everything contributes to the hidden mystery. Roderick and Lady Madeline are not just brother and sister but they are twins, represent the mental and physical components of a single being or soul. Roderick represents the mind, while Lady Madeline represents the senses hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling. Since Lady Madeline has mysterious illness, this brings Roderick to a deep pressure, makes him hopeless and frail. His mind haunts by phantasm, a disorder brain. After the entombment of his twin, his condition deteriorates. He begins to suffer and his character becomes worse and very strange. At the end of story, Lady Madeline returns from her premature tomb, and carries her brother to death. The house itself splits asunder and sinks into the tarn. This story is dominated by grim phantasm and FEAR, from the foreboding opening paragraph to the terrible conclusion. Through the chain of events everything contributes to the effect of mystery. In The Tell-Tale Heart, there is a man narrator who wants to release the extreme fear from the old man’s ‘evil eye’. The old man’s eyes resembled of a vulture-a pale blue eye, makes his blood run cold. It haunts him day and night. Thus pushes him to rid the eye forever. He wants to punish the old man’s eye while it is open but he finds that the eye always closed. For it is not the old man who vexed him, but his evil eye. A few moments before the murder, he imagines that the beating of the old man’s heart grows louder and even so that he worries about it, last it can be heard by someone else. “But the beating grew louder, louder I thought the heart must burst. And now new anxiety seized me-the sound would be heard by a neighbor The old man’s hour had come With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once-once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him Poe, 1990: 92-93. After the murder, the police officers came and tried to investigate his crime. He can prove to the police officers that there is nothing wrong. Suddenly his unconscious mind confesses his crime in strange manner: “Villain’ I shrieked,’ dissemble no more I admit the deed-tear up the planks-here, here-it is the beating of his hideous heart” Poe, 1990: 95 Viewed from this plot, supported by the manner of speaking and actions of the character, this story leads us into the mystery. The story of The Black Cat describes that the narrator’s marriage is a happy one because he and his wife show congeniality; they love domestic pets. One of their favorite pets is a beautiful cat called Pluto. Unexpectedly, the man character lacks of self-control. The change grows steadily: “I grew day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others” Poe, 1990: 199. He becomes high-tempered. It can be notice in the way he treats his wife: “I suffered my self to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence Poe, 1990: 199. It is clear that because of his being more regardless of the feelings of others, he treats his wife improperly. The man’s high temper increases as he punishes the cat by cutting out of its eyes. He feels sorry for having treated the cat, which has once been so dear to him. But, what he feels leads him to annoyance, then he is driven by spirit of perverseness as his reasons: “who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a stupid action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Poe, 1990: 201. This drives him to continue the torture upon the cat; he hangs the cat to the large branch of a tree. Madly, he blows his wife’s head with the axe and she falls dead instantly. Having treated his wife improperly, cut out his cat’s eye and hung his cat, then he continues commits crime by killing his wife. It is caused by his spirit of perverseness willfully urges him to do so. The man finds himself doing continuous crime just for the wrong’s sake: “my heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence Poe, 1990: 210. Through the stories composed above; supported by the actions and voices of the character, it has created a mystery story.

2. 5. Foreshadowing